The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-12-31
9en Publications.
POEMS OF NEW ENGLAND

POEMS OF NEW ENGLAND.
A book of poems just issued by D. Lathrop
Company, Boston, recalls tender memories
to the minds of New England's children. 1t
is written by Mrs. Abbie M. Gannett, who
thus gives her tribute to those farm homes
which are,
"Nurse of the virtues large and strong,
Honor and praise to them belong"
The title of the book "The Old Farm
Home. A Shadow of Poem,'' and the pro-
EN- consisting only of two lines,
"Their lives the poem were; the faltering
line
Mere shadow of a substance quite divine"
show the unpretending nature of the verse
which describes the farm, the home and the
growing thought and aspiration of the in
mates. How many people throughout the
great West remember
ga bit of choice New England green
Bosomed the rocky hills between;"
and,
"Green meadows where the slanting sun
CASTS shadows long when day is done,
The cleft hill where the sunset glows
And Ger the heaven its splendor throSs3
or the home where
"The farm house rafters long were laid
Ere skilful workmen piled their trade
Great beams upheld the unplastered WALL
The kitchen chimney, hinge and tall,
Disclosed the yawuing fireplace where
The oak logs burned with ruddy glare"
The even flow of the narrative is broken by
II,
spiration, or a thought, as part of the his
tory. "Sunhowers," !" "Sunset," "The Pur-
pie Clematis," "'Tis Love that Makes the
World go Round" and "a Little Bird Whis-
pered," are descriptive of nature and full of
pleasing sentiment. "Transcendence," ""The
Birth of Faith, " "The Voice of Justice, ex-
press the SOULS struggle with Doubt, its vic
tory and its eagerness. That truth and right
eousness may prevail. Many of the pages
breathe au earnest
"Thought of One who globed a world
Aud sphered the diamond drop of dew,
Has pulsed the solemn ages through
Truths utmost banner wide unfurled!
"And while flowers wake above the sod
And stars CLEAN in the arch of night,
Love mourns her dear ones hid from sight
There still will be the thought of Godi''
The book is pretty in form and inexpen-
sive. 1t will appeal to the hearts of those
who once knew fields where,
g. Yellow pollen, falling, soon
Builds kernels sweet through ripening June;
With spears innumerable the wheat
Guards its green ranks through July's heat"
"The long. green meadows wet with dew,
The daisies springing white and new,
The scent of fresh life in the air,
The flying birds adrift in song"
and will cause maLy wanderer from New
England to look back to the old farm home
through a mist of tender tears.
SARAH e. BURTON.
HIGHER GROUND: Hints Toward Settling
the Labor Troubles BY Augustus ia
cobson, Chicago, A. G. MeClurg & Co.
"It hurts a man to know 50 many things
that amt So" If the quaint philosopher who
said this was right, then the author of this
book must be in constant pain.
1t is not true that the average working
man to day gets little better food,
. little better instruction" than he did a cen
tury aga, nor does he live in a hovel. This
is but one of the false statements or half
truths scattered through the first part of this
pretentious book.
The author seems to think that education
to get living. The higher, the essential uses
of education he does not admit.
tie proposes that the manual training
school" shalt become a part of our public
school System and that parents shall be paid
from $50 to $500 for keeping each child at
school, the pay increasing each year The
enormous expense to be met ''by graduated
succession tax upon estates" On estates
less than $4,000, one-fourth per cent, in
creaaing to nine per cent on $4,000 and so
on. This tax would yield in Chicago from
three to six millions annually!
In addition it is proposed that some of
the rules of inheritance of the Code Napo-
leon" shall he enacted. He thinks the peo-
pie would gladly vote" the tax.
The book is we'll writ en- and interesting.
The author, however, dos not seem to rec
ognize the truth that real and permanent
Improvement must resnlt for working peo-
pie and all others in change of character
and habits, not merely from change of
laws.
The second part of the book on the Man
ual Training School, " tn the appendix, IS
very interesting aud useful. We commend
the book to all who ought to study some neg
lected solutions of the labor problem.